How can interim OC Mike Bajakian get Utes’ offense on track?

It’s been quite the 24 hours for Mike Bajakian.
Last Saturday, he was in his usual role as Utah’s quarterbacks coach, but after a 13-7 loss to TCU that featured one of the worst offensive performances in recent program history, he found himself elevated to interim offensive coordinator.
Kyle Whittingham has gone through a lot of offensive coordinators during his tenure at Utah, but for the first time ever, there’s been a midseason switch at the position.
From 2019 on, it seemed certain that Andy Ludwig and Whittingham would finish their careers together, but if there’s one thing that’s constant in sports, it’s change, and Utah is now getting a change at offensive coordinator.
Andy Ludwig, who was in year six of his second stint at Utah, resigned as the Utes’ offensive coordinator Sunday night in an unprecedented move in the Whittingham era. But after three straight dismal offensive games, Ludwig didn’t have the answers going forward.
“Andy just felt it was time for the offense to hear a new voice, have new leadership,” Whittingham said. “He was really at a loss for why we were in the situation we’re in. I mean, he’s a guy that he’s as detailed as they get and he really just had no solution to where we’re at and felt like again, that maybe a new direction or a new, at least a new leader at that position would maybe provide a spark.”
Ludwig played a big role in many of the seminal moments in Utah history. He was the offensive coordinator for the undefeated 2008 season, which finished with a victory over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl thanks largely, in part, to his up-tempo game plan that had the Crimson Tide on their heels in a 21-0 first quarter.
When he returned to Utah in 2019, he stopped the revolving door of offensive coordinators and helped revitalize the school’s dormant passing game, starting with quarterback Tyler Huntley. That 2019 team scored 32 points per game and Huntley threw for 3,092 yards, the first time a Utes quarterback had thrown for over 2,900 yards since Brian Johnson did so in 2008.
In 2021 and 2022, Cam Rising and Ludwig were the perfect pairing as Utah’s offense hit the next level and the Utes finally got over the Pac-12 hump, winning back-to-back conference championships. Rising threw for 5,527 yards and 46 touchdowns in 2022 and 2023, elevating Utah’s passing game.
That successful partnership between the quarterback and offensive coordinator played a role in the events that led to Ludwig’s resignation.
With Isaac Wilson under center, a large part of the offense still seemed to be centered around Rising and his skillset instead of tailoring it to the true freshman. Combine that with predictable play calling, some puzzling red-zone calls, underutilization of key players and lack of answers against stacked boxes and blitzes, and you get the lack of production over the last three games.
Of course, the offensive woes can’t be blamed solely on Ludwig.
Looking at last week’s 13-7 loss to TCU, the offensive line had its worst game of the season, and Wilson certainly isn’t blameless either. The true freshman continues to go through growing pains — his processing needs work, he holds onto the ball too long at times, and his ball placement to open receivers at times has missed the mark.
These are all things Utah thinks can improve with more game experience, and Wilson will get plenty of it with five games remaining, starting at Houston this Saturday.
Ludwig’s resignation is a tough moment for the players that worked with him, but especially Wilson. The four-star quarterback had plenty of offers from schools, but chose Utah in part because of his relationship with Ludwig and the belief that his pro-style offense would help prepare him for a potential future in the NFL.
“I mean, obviously it’s a hard thing to go through,” Wilson said. “I committed here to play under Coach Lud. … It’s a hard thing to go through, but we got to keep moving forward.”
Utah will be moving forward, at least for the next five games, with Bajakian as the interim offensive coordinator.
Bajakian joined Utah this offseason as an offensive analyst, and with the NCAA rule change this offseason that now allows analysts to coach players, he has been Utah’s quarterback coach all season long.
He’s been on the field for every game this year and is often the first person Wilson talks to after an offensive series. The two go over film together on tablets, with Bajakian giving him pointers.
A close relationship to Wilson, and extensive offensive coordinator experience, made Bajakian the pick to finish out the season for the Utes.
A 29-year coaching veteran, Bajakian has called plays for Northwestern, Boston College, Tennessee, Cincinnati and Central Michigan, while also spending time in the NFL as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterbacks coach, helping develop No. 1 pick Jameis Winston in his successful rookie season.
At Cincinnati, Bajakian helped engineer back-to-back 10-win seasons, scoring an average of 32.8 points per game, and maximizing tight end Travis Kelce’s role in the offense.
In his most recent stint at Northwestern, Bajakian’s offense averaged 24.7 points per game in 2020, 16.6 points per game in 2021, 13.8 points per game in 2022 and 22.1 points per game in 2023 before being let go by Wildcats coach David Braun.
With Bajakian now at the helm, what will Utah’s offense look like? Don’t expect wholesale changes and a miraculous turnaround.
Barring something shocking, Bajakian is not going to be Utah’s offensive coordinator past this season. He’s not going to be able to overhaul the offense and put in his own scheme — he’s implemented the spread offense in the past — but instead, he’ll work out of the current playbook.
“For those of you guys that are talking to the people down in Houston, we’re going to go to wishbone triple option, change things up a little bit schematically,” Bajakian joked.
“Listen, the system is the system,” he said. “There’ll obviously be tweaks, but we’ll address those as they come. I don’t want to show the hand too much; at the same time, there’s only so much you can do with a system in place.”
What Utah is going to get is a fresh perspective and a new set of eyes to work with its current offensive system.
Bajakian might put in a few new plays, but overall, he’s going to have the same call sheet as Ludwig did, and the difference will be in which plays he calls at which times and how he approaches the overall game plan.
The biggest change we could see is Bajakian leveraging his relationship with Wilson and tailoring the game plan to him a little bit better.
“Isaac, he’s a smart player. He’s driven, he’s dedicated. He works really hard. He’s got a lot of arm talent. He’s got a lot of athletic ability,” Bajakian said. “As a freshman, he’s still learning, but shoot, I’m 50 years old and been coaching for 29 years and I’m still learning. So we will play to his strengths.”
Right now, the book is out on Wilson, with teams blitzing him to great success. As the games wear on, that percentage keeps increasing, and on Saturday, TCU blitzed him at a 51.2% rate (for comparison, in the 2022 season, Rising faced a blitz rate of just 35%).
Figuring out how to help Wilson against the blitz is going to be priority No. 1. Look for Bajakian to possibly give him more quick routes — and hot routes — so he can get the ball out faster. Under Ludwig, there were plenty of plays that just took too long to develop, and combined with some lackluster offensive line play, it resulted in pressure that blew the play up or resulted in a sack.
Receiver Money Parks feels like Utah will be more of an up-tempo offense under Bajakian, and that could also serve Wilson well by allowing him to get into more of a rhythm.
Another possible effect of Bajakian taking over? A fresh set of eyes evaluating all of Utah’s offensive options.
The Utes do need to get the ball consistently to their top playmakers like Dorian Singer, Micah Bernard, Parks and Brant Kuithe, but there may be opportunities to get underutilized talent involved in some situations.
Tight end Landen King, who had 14 receptions for 166 yards and three touchdowns last year, has one target and zero catches this year. Dallen Bentley, supposed to be the breakout star of the tight end room, has two receptions on four targets.
Receiver Damien Alford (610 yards in 2023) and Munir McClain (287 yards in 2023) haven’t had the ball thrown their way at all.
Getting some of these players involved, even if it’s just a few plays per game, could open up the offense more and take some of the pressure off of the key playmakers.
“I love him. I love him,” King said of Bajakian. “Ever since he’s been here as just the regular QB coach, we got a good connection. We always had a good connection as soon as he got here, so I got full confidence in him.”
The final way in which Bajakian could differ from Ludwig? Simplicity in the offense.
Ludwig’s pro-style offense is complex, but when it works, it works well. It’s tough to pick up for some new players, however, and especially in the transfer portal era, having an offense that players can fully learn and grasp in an offseason is more important than ever.
Bajakian is going to strip the offense back and make it more simple and easier for a freshman quarterback to process.
“I mean, we’re not recreating the wheel here. We’re going to just keep it simple, really help out our O line, more speed and space, just simple stuff. Really simplify things for our team,” Wilson said.
Utah is not going to suddenly go from the No. 72 offense in the nation to No. 1 in five weeks with an interim offensive coordinator, but there are tweaks that Bajakian can make in the existing system that might set the Utes up for better success.
His first chance to take the reins come on Saturday in Houston.
“He’s a very dynamic personality. He’s got a lot of energy. He’s upbeat and I think that the players will respond. That’s the hope,” Whittingham said.